How's Your Vision?

Honey, can you read that for me?

[pageoneresults]

Shopping with my 7 year old daughter for her hair products not long ago...

"Honey, can you read this label for Daddy please?"

I'm in my 40s, enjoying life and spend way too much time behind this display. In the past 24 months my vision has slowly deteriorated. I'm probably at fault myself as I did have a prescription set of eyewear made and only wear them "when I absolutely have to" which is here at the home office.

When we go out to eat, I'm the guy holding the menu 3 feet away from him so he can read it. My vision at distance is just fine. Anything within 18 inches or closer begins to blur. Not with my glasses on though. I have a pair of "Buddy Holly" style glasses complete with the black eyeglass holder. I look like a total geek with them on. Add a black suit and tie, what do you get? ;)

I started this topic due to a Sticky from Commerce. I said this in a recent topic...

I like big now. Big type, lots of space. Once you hit your 40s, the eyes do not see the same. ;)

Apparently Commerce can relate. ;-)

Anyone else? How bad is it? What preventive measures are you taking to slow down the process or even reverse it? Talk to me, as an Internet Marketer, my eyesight is very important to me.

A recent Home Page Topic from Brett really made me start to think about this...

Wide Screen Displays Change Web Page Design?
[webmasterworld.com...]

[ken_b]

>> What preventive measures..

Firefox: cntl +

I like bigger monitors and even bigger fonts.

But the I'm 60+ and have eyesight that has always been "bad" [I didn't know trees were more than blobs in the sky until I got glasses at age 4]

[giggle]

I'm with you on this one pageoneresults. I'm 45 and until recently I thought that I had a great excuse to dump our current TV and buy one of those flat sceen TV's. I explained to my wife that the subtitles (in Thailand all sat. TV have the programs subtitled in Thai) were out of focus and hard to read and suggested buying the new TV only to be told that the subtitles were crystal clear to her.

For a few months I've been thinking that there was something up but most things seemed perfectly clear - actually they weren't (as I see now with my new glasses).

Another sign of growing up (better than saying growing old I suppose).

[weeks]

What can I tell you? I always had perfect vision until I hit 45. Ten years later, I'm never without my glasses. I went kicking and screaming, but it was no use. I have come to accept it, since I had no alternative.

[LifeinAsia]

Yep, my short-range vision started deteriorating shortly after hitting 40. I've had prescription glasses for near-sightedness since I was about 10. I dread the thought of bifocals at such a young age. :P Will probably look into those "invisible" bifocals.

It's really bad being a cyclist and having your eyes start to go. It's really hard to read the odometer sometimes to know how far you've gone. On my GPS, I can enlarge the display by decreasing the number of things to display, but there's nothing I can do about the odometer. Other than buy a new one with a "granny" sized display.

[pageoneresults]

So, if you are involved with the designing of websites, how does your vision affect that design? I ask because I have one particular client who always likes to reduce my output by 1px at which point I have to put my glasses on so that I can work with the content. If you were looking at fixed font sizes on the screen, at what size does it become unreadable for you? Me? 11px is borderline. Anything smaller and I'm outta of there if I can't resize using my default browser controls.

I know, I know, I'm guilty of using fixed font sizes myself. But, I typically don't go below 13px for main content. 13/14px+ are my comfort zones. How about you?

It just seems like over the past 5-10 years, everyone is trying to squeeze more information in the same amount of space it occupied previously. Bottle labels are a prime example. Try buying a hair product for those with graying or silver hair. The damn type is 4-5pt. Talk about not thinking. How the hell can I buy your product if I can't read the instructions? Now I have to hang a magnifying glass in the shower!

[justgowithit]

I've got perfect vision which I undoubtedly take for granted. Most of my friends think it's amazing given the amount of time I'm staring at a computer.

If I'm not mistaken it sounds like it won't last forever. Apparently once 40 comes along things start to fall apart :o

A sad day it will be..... when it arrives.

[Philosopher]

Great...I'm 35 and started losing my distance vision about 2.5 years ago. Now I have to wear glasses/contacts full time for that. From the sounds of it, everyone is losing their close-range vision after 40.

I'm seeing bifocals in my not too distant future. *Crud*

[LifeinAsia]

I guess as you get older, the only part of vision that improves is HIND sight...

[jimbeetle]

preventive measures

Easy, walk my new permanent AARP membership card down to a participating place and get a new pair of specs.

[Jane_Doe]

spend way too much time behind this display

One of my children, who will watch TV and play as much xBox as we will let him, had his vision improve after we went from a standard size TV to a 42" plasma with high definition cable channels. After noticing the improvement in his eye exam, I bought a larger plasma display monitor for my PC.

I haven't had my vision checked since I started using the new monitor but I'm hoping it is better for my eyes.

Apparently once 40 comes along things start to fall apart

Turning 40 beats the alternative option. :)

[edited by: Jane_Doe at 6:23 pm (utc) on Sep. 6, 2007]

[akmac]

Maybe I can get my optometrist to write a prescription for a 70 inch HDTV. Won't help me with the price, but may help convince my wife...

[Commerce]

Age happens. Not much any of us can do about it, other than keeping in mind that life is short and goes by quickly, so make the best of it by living a very good one.

How *that* is interpreted will vary wildly, but generally, trying to lead a decent life offers its own rewards.

I noted the FireFox trick above (thanks), you can also try this on for IE 7 -

Hold down the CTRL key and use the mouse scroll wheel -wheel scroll "up" is bigger, scrolling "down" is smaller in IE 7 and Opera.

Actually this will also work in Firefox as well, but just the opposite, as in Firefox scroll wheel up is smaller and down is bigger... go figure.

This one made me smile -

Apparently once 40 comes along things start to fall apart

Which is actually okay... as long as nothing falls off. ;-)

Age is a state of mind - my grandfather passed away at the age of 102 - very sharp, very wise and still very young - we should all be so lucky.

- Commerce